MAJOR 

George  Farragut 


BY 


c 

MARSHALL  DELANEY  HAYWOOD 
OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 


PUBLISHED  IN 


The   Gulf  States  Historical  Magazine 

September,      1903 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2011  witii  funding  from 

University  of  Nortii  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://www.archive.org/details/majorgeorgefarra51hayw 


MAJOR  GEORGE   FARRAGUT. 

"Well  proved,  they  say,  in  strife  of  zuat , 
And  tempest  on  the  Sea." 

By  Marshali^  DeLancey  HA^-wooD.of  Raleigh,  N.  C. 

With  those  few  of  the  present  generation  who  have  heard 
at  all  of  Major  George  Farragiit,  the  idea  usually  prevails  that 
his  only  title  to  distinction  lay  in  the  fact  that  he  became  the 
father  of  one  of  America's  most  noted  naval  commanders.  Yet 
the  services  rendered  by  George  Farragut  himself,  both  as  a 
soldier  and  sailor,  were  not  unappreciated  during  his  own  life- 
time. This  gentleman,  sometime  a  Captain  of  North  Carolina 
Cavalry  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution,  a  pioneer  in  the  trans- 
montane  settlements  of  Tennessee  and  the  Gulf  States,  and 
who  was  later  engaged  in  the  naval  service  of  the  United 
States,  was  a  native  of  the  Island  of  Minorca,  one  of  the 
Balearic  group,  in  the  Mediterranean  sea.  A  record  concern- 
ing himself,  made  in  a  family  Bible  and  addressed  to  Admiral 
Farragut,  is  reproduced  in  one  of  the  latter' s  published  bio- 
graphies as  follows: 
^^My  Son: 

"Your  father,  George  Farragut,  was  born  in  the  Island 
of  Minorca,  in  the  Mediterranean,  in  1755,  the  29th  of  Septem- 
ber, in  Ciudadella,  and  came  away  from  that  island  the  2d  day 
of  April,  1772 — came  to  America  in  March,  1776.  Your  moth- 
er, Elizabeth  Shine,  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  Dobbs  Co., 
near  Kinston  on  the  Neu.se  River,  in  1765,  on  the  7th  of  June. 
Her  father,  John  Shine — mother,  Ellenor  Mclven." 

That  part  of  Dobbs  County,  to  which  allusion  is  made  in 

this  extract  now  forms  the  county  of  L,enoir.  Dobbs  no  longer 
exists,  having  been  abolished  bj^  legislative  enactment  in  1791. 
In  the  above  quoted  volume  of  biography,  (written  by 
Ivoyall  Farragut,  son  of  the  Admiral),  is  also  a  quotation  from 
the  records  of  the  ecclesiastical  court  of  Ciudadella,  stating 
that  the  baptism  of  George  Farragut  occurred  on  September 
30,  1755,  and  giving  the  date  of  his  birth  as  above.  In  this 
entry  on  the  church  records,  he  designated  the  son  of  Anthony 
F'arragut  and  J  nana  Mesquida,  with  Don  Joseph  de  Vigo  and 


Major  George  Farragut  91 

the  noble  lady  Dona  J  nana  Martorell  as  his  god-parents.  The 
full  baptismal  name  given  young  Farragut  was  George  Anth- 
ony Magin;  but  he  no  doubt  considered  an  appellation  in  four 
sections  too  cumbersome  to  be  carried  about  by  a  sojourner  in 
many  lands,  so  dropped  his  two  middle  names  and  was  known 
simply  as  George  Farragut. 

The  family  of  Farragut,  (or  Ferragut,  as  it  was  formerly 
written),  is  one  of  ancient  orign.  claiming  descent  from  Don 
Pedro  Ferragut,  styled  El  Co7iqiustador,  or  "the  Conqueror," 
a  noted  warrior  in  the  service  of  King  James  the  First  of  Ara- 
gon  when  that  monarch  expelled  the  Moors  from  Majorca  and 
Valencia  in  the  thirteenth  century.  From  this  Don  Pedro 
sprang  many  noted  fighters  as  well  as  scholars  and  theolog- 
ians; but  as  numerous  as  the  family  was,  it  now  no  longer  ex- 
ists in  the  Balearic  Islands.  It  is  interesting  to  note,  in  con- 
nection with  the  Island  of  Minorca,  that  when  Admiral  Farra- 
gut visited  his  father's  birthplace  in  1868,  the  population 
turned  out  en  masse  to  welcome  him,  and  held  in  his  honor 
public  entertainments  attended  by  many  thousands. 

George  Farragut,  the  subject  of  the  present  sketch,  was  a 
full-blooded  Spaniard.  I^ater,  however,  in  a  resolution  by  the 
North  Carolina  Assembly,  (hereinafter  to  be  quoted),  he  is 
styled  "a  native  and  subject  of  the  Kingdom  of  France."  As 
an  explanation  of  this^  it  may  be  mentioned  that  at  about  the 
time  of  PVrragut's  birth,  Minorca,  (then  an  English  possess- 
ion), was  captured  by  the  French.  This  disaster  to  British  arms 
was  the  one  which  cost  the  unfortunate  Admiral  Byng  his  life 
after  he  returned  to  England. 

The  education  of  George  Farragut  was  received  in  Spain 
at  the  schools  of  Barcelona,  and  it  may  be  that  he  gained  some 
knowledge  of  English  while  there;  for,  after  coming  to  Amer- 
ica, he  showed  himself  quite  proficient  in  the  language  of  his 
adopted  country.  During  the  four  years  elapsing  between  his 
departure  from  Minorca  in  April,  1772,  and  his  arrival  in 
America  in  March,  1776,  he  was  for  a  while  at  school,  as  above 
noted,  later  being  engaged  in  seafaring  pursuits.  At  the  time 
that  he  came  to  America,  the  war  with  Great  Britain  had  begun 
in  earnest,  and  one  decisive  victory  had  already  been  gained 
in  North  Carolina  by  the  colonists  at  Moore's  Creek  Bridge. 
Promptly  espousing  the  patriot  cause,   Farragut  now  entered 


92  The  Gulf  States  Historical  Magazine 

upon  the  long  war  in  which  he  was  destined  to  bear  an  honor- 
able part. 

As  seamen  of  the  eighteenth  century  knew  more  of  broad- 
side firing  than  cavalry  tactics,  one  might  expect  to  find  George 
Farragut  on  some  armed  sloop,  or  fighting  as  an  artilleryman 
in  the  ranks  of  the  patriots;  yet  navigating  a  horse  seems  also 
to  have  been  one  of  his  accomplishments,  for  we  soon  see  his 
name  enrolled  as  an  officer  in  the  North  Carolina  State  Legion 
or  Mounted  Rangers.  This  organization  of  light-horsemen  was 
largely  entrusted  with  guarding  the  western  settlements,  and 
much  of  its  warfare  was  waged  against  the  Indians  and  their 
Tory  instigators  in  that  section  of  North  Carolina  which  is 
now  the  State  of  Tennessee. 

At  the  battle  of  Cowpens,  January  17,  1781,  Farragut  is 
said  to  have  saved  the  life  of  Colonel  William  Washington. 
Such  is  a  tradition  handed  down  among  descendants  of  the  for- 
mer; and  some  verification  of  the  belief  may  be  found  in  pub- 
lished accounts  of  the  battle  which  state  that  Colonel  Wash- 
ington was  rescued  from  a  perilous  encounter  in  which  he  was 
engaged,  by  a  Sergeant  (whose  name  is  not  given),  and  a 
Bugler  named  Ball.*  The  Sergeant  referred  to  may  have  been 
Farragut,  as  both  he  and  Washington  were  in  the  cavalry. 

The  exact  date  when  Mr.  Farragut  entered  the  army  does 
not  appear;  but  by  the  spring  of  1782,  he  had  risen  to  the  rank 
of  Captain,  as  is  shown  by  a  resolution  which  the  Assembly  of 
North  Carolina  passed  on  the  27th  of  May,  in  that  year: 

"Resolved,  That  Captain  George  Farragut,  of  the  State  Legion,  be 
allowed  three  hundred  dollais  in  full  for  six  months'  pay  and  subsistence 
money,  which  shall  be  received  in  the  sales  of  confiscated  property  as 
gold  and  silver,  and  any  Commissioner  may  be  allowed  the  same  in  the 
settlement  of  accounts."  f 

When  the  Revolution  came  to  an  end  and  the  arms  of  the 
colonists  were  crowned  with  success,  \^  long  drain  on  North 
Carolina's  resources  was  sorely  felt,  and  it  was  not  until  three 
years  after  the  war  that  even  a  part  of  the  arrears  due  Captain 
Farragut  for  his  services  could  be  paid.  On  the  27th  of  Nov- 
ember, 17/&,  the  Senate  of  North  Carolina  passed  a  set  of  res- 

*Marshairs  Life  of  Washington,  (  1804-1807  edition  )   vol.  iv,  p.  347; 

Col.  Henry  Lee's  Memoirs,  (  1812  edition  )  vol.  i,  p.  258. 

Garden's  Anecdotes,  (  1822  edition  )  p.  69. 

■\State  Records  of  North  Carolina,  Vol.  xvi,  p.  169. 


Major  George  Farragut  93 

oliitions  (concurred  in  by  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  same 
day),  as  follows  : 

"Resolved,  That  Mr.  George  Farragut,  late  a  Captain  in  the  Cav- 
alry in  the  State  Regiment  of  North  Carolina,  be  allowed  the  sum  of 
sixty-eight  pounds,  eight  shillings  and  four  pence,  current  money,  being 
the  one-fourth  part  of  the  sum  which  appears  by  his  account  rendered  to 
be  due  Mr.  Farragut  for  and  on  account  of  his  military  service  perform- 
ed in  this  State;  that  the  Treasurer  pay  him  the  same,  and  it  be  allowed 
in  settlement  of  public  accounts; 

"Resolved  also,  That  the  Comptroller  issue  to  Mr.  George  Farragut 
a  certificate  for  the  other  three- fourths  of  the  sum  due  him; 

"Resolved  likewise,  That  this  General  Assembly  are  led  to  adopt 
this  measure  from  a  conviction  of  the  faithful,  voluntary  and  public 
spirited  services  of  the  said  Mr.  Farragut,  he  being  a  native  and  subject 
of  the  Kingdom  of  France.* 

Shortly  after  the  war,  Captain  Farragut  went  west  and 
engaged  in  surveying,  also  becoming  a  farmer  in  what  was 
then  known  as  the  District  of  Washington  in  North  Carolina, 
lyater,  his  place  of  residence  became  a  part  of  the  South  West 
Territory,  and  is  now  embraced  within  the  borders  of  the  State 
of  Tennessee. 

When  Captain  Farragut  went  to  the  Washington  District, 
men  of  military  training  were  acquisitions  to  that  thinly  settled 
region.  Farragut  soon  became  Muster-Master  of  the  District, 
and  was  commissioned  a  Major  of  Cavalry  by  Governor  Wil- 
liam Blount  on  November  3,  1790.  One  of  the  claims  before 
Congress  in  1797  was  from  Major  Farragut  for  "services  ren- 
dered the  United  States  as  Muster-Master  of  the  Militia  of  the 
District  of  Washington,  employed  in  actual  service  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  frontiers  of  the  United  States  south  of  the  Ohio, 
from  the  ist  of  March,  1792,  to  the  26th  of  October,  1793." 

In  the  course  of  time.  Major  Farragut  became  the  owner 
of  quite  a  number  of  tracts  of  land  in  his  new  home.  The  re- 
cord of  his  purchases,  as  ascertained  by  the  well-known  law- 
yer and  historian.  Honorable  Joshua  W.  Caldwell,  of  Knox- 
ville,  Tennessee,  is  as  follows:  On  February  6,  1794,  he  pur- 
chased from  James  White  a  lot  in  Knoxville,  and  two  days 
later  bought  from  Thomas  King  two  hundred  acres  in  Knox 
County,  on  Third  Creek;  in  the  same  year,  on  April  8th,  the 
the  State  of  North  Carolina  granted  him  a  tract  of  three  hun- 
dred and  eighty  acres  in  Grassy  Valley,  Knox  County;  in 
April,  1796,  he  purchased  two  tracts  in  Knox  County  from 
James  White.     These  last  named  were  on  the  south  side  of 

*State  Records  of  North  Carolina,  vol.  xviii,  p.  24  and  257. 


94  The  Gulf  States  Historical  Magazine 

Second  Creek,  partly  within  the  present  bounds  of  the  City  of 
Knoxville,  Farragut  disposed  of  these  two  tracts  in  1799  and 
1800.  Prior  to  the  time  when  he  sold  them,  he  made  his 
home  on  the  first,  (a  little  over  three  acres),  which  stood  at 
the  end  of  Emerson  Street, or  Spring  Street,  as  it  was  formerly 
called.  On  this  lot  the  house  occupied  by  the  Farragut  fam- 
ily was  standing  as  late  as  the  beginning  of  1903,  when  it  was 
torn  down  to  make  way  for  a  railroad.  Shortly  after  this  a 
public-spirited  Tennesseean,  Benjamin  Rush  Strong,  conceiv- 
ed the  idea  of  preser\ang  the  structure,  had  the  tim- 
bers collected  and  the  house  rebuilt  in  its  original  form.  It 
now  stands  on  the  premises  of  Mr.  Strong.  In  a  letter 
written  by  Hon.  John  B.  Brownlow,  and  published  in  the 
Knoxville  .&;;//«(?/ of  April  8,  1903,  the  original  form  of  the 
house  is  thus  described:  "The  first  story  was  stone,  with  a 
wall  thick  enough  for  a  four-story  log  house.  The  second,  of 
thick  logs,  and  then  a  half  story  above,  with  a  high  roof." 

Having  gained  a  practical  knowledge  of  carpentry  while 
on  ship-board,  Major  Farragut  put  his  experience  in  that  line 
of  work  to  good  account  when  in  Knoxville,  and  became  a 
contractor  and  house-builder.  Not  only  in  Knoxville,  but 
throughout  the  surrounding  country,  many  of  the  houses  of 
the  earlier  settlers  were  built  by  him. 

On  December  9,  1796,  Farragut  bought  from  Stokely 
Donelson  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  on  the  north  bank  of 
the  Holston  River.  Later,  in  1805,  he  executed  a  mortgage 
for  a  part  of  this  land,  and  set  forth  in  the  mortgage  deed  that 
his  dwelling  house  was  on  part  of  the  tract.  His  residence 
was  at  a  place  called  Stony  Point  which  was  afterwards  known 
as  lyow's  Ferry.  There,  (and  not,  as  is  usually  supposed,  at 
Campbell's  Station),  Admiral  David  Glasgow  Farragut  was 
born.  Major  George  Farragut,  so  far  as  the  records  show,  never 
owned  land  at  Campbell's  Station.  In  the  records  of  the  coun- 
ty court  of  Knox  County  for  April  session,  1797,  it  appears  that 
license  was  granted  Maj .  Farragut  to  '  'keep  a  public  ferry  at  his 
own  landing  on  Holston  River  at  the  place  called  Stony  Point." 
Campbell's  Station  was  the  nearest  settlement  to  Stony  Point, 
and  the  only  place  which  could  be  shown  on  a  map.  This  is 
probably  why  Admiral  Farragut  himself  later  referred  to 
Campbell's  Station  as  his  birthplace.  To  speak  of  Stony  Point, 


Major  George  Farragut  95 

otherwise  lyOw's  Ferry,  which  was  about  four  miles  distant 
from  Campbell's  Station,  would  convey  no  idea  to  a  person 
not  familiar  with  the  neighborhood.  The  mistake  may  be 
accounted  for  by  a  tradition,  which  has  currency  in  Knox 
County,  that  there  was  once,  near  Low's  Ferry,  a  camp-ground 
connected  in  some  way  with  the  name  of  Campbell,  and  prob- 
ably owned  or  operated  by  members  of  that  family. 

The  Farragut  house  at  Stony  Point  is  described  as  having 
been  unusuall}-  large  for  a  log  structure.  Originally  it  was 
forty  by  twenty  feet,  with  additional  rooms  built  later  which 
greatly  added  to  its  size.  Through  its  walls  were  two  loop- 
holes for  purposes  of  defense  against  the  Indians.  This  house 
is  no  longer  in  existence.  The  place  of  its  location  was  sold  by 
Major  Farragut  to  Elisha  Jarnagin,  from  whom  it  was  pur- 
chased b}^  Abraham  Low;  and  thereby  it  gained  the  name  of 
Low's  Ferry. 

Admiral  Farragut  himself  could  remember  many  of  the 
dangerous  frontier  experiences  of  his  father's  family  in  Ten- 
nessee, as  the  following  extract  from  his  journal  (in  the  biog- 
raphy by  Loyall  Farragut)  will  show: 

"In  those  days,  on  the  border,  we  were  continually  an- 
noyed by  the  Indians,  which  rendered  the  organization  of  the 
militia  a  necessity.  My  father  was  appointed  a  Major  of  cav- 
alry, and  served  for  some  time  in  that  capacity,  the  condition 
of  the  country  requiring  its  inhabitants  to  be  constantly  on  the 
outlook.  I  remember  that  on  one  occasion,  during  my  fath- 
er's absence,  a  party  of  Indians  came  to  our  house,  which  was 
somewhat  isolated,  when  my  mother,  who  was  a  brave  and 
energetic  w'oman,  barred  the  door  in  the  most  effectual  man- 
ner, and  sent  all  of  us  trembling  little  ones  up  into  the  loft  of 
the  barn,  while  she  guarded  the  entrance  with  an  axe.  The 
savages  attempted  to  parley  with  her,  but  she  kept  them  at 
bay,  until  finally  they  departed,  for  some  reason  which  is  un- 
known, their  intentions  having  been  evidently  hostile.  My 
father  arrived  shortly  after  with  his  command,  and  immediate- 
ly pursued  the  Indians,  whom,  I  believe,  he  succeeded  in 
overtaking  and  punishing;  at  anj^  rate,  the}^  were  never  seen 
again  in  that  part  of  the  countr3\" 

When  North  Carolina  ceded  Tennessee  to  the  United 
States  to  be  set  up  as  a  separate  government,  the  parent  State 
reserved  the  ownership  of  unentered  public  lands  hang  with- 
in the  borders  of  the  new  commonwealth.  It  may  be  that  the 
remainder  of  what  was  due  Major  Farragut  from  North  Caro- 


96  The  Gulf  States  Historicai.  Magazine 

Una  for  his  military  services  in  the  War  for  Independence,  was 
paid  with  the  grant  to  him  of  the  three  hundred  and  eighty 
acres  in  Grassy  Valley,  heretofore  mentioned.  Numberless 
claims  b}^  veterans  of  the  Revolution  were  settled  in  this  man- 
ner, and  many  of  the  owners  crossed  the  Alleghanies  to  take 
personal  possession  of  their  property.  Largely  from  these  war- 
like progenitors,  with  those  who  accompanied  them  or  went 
about  the  same  time,  springs  the  race  of  Tennesseeaus,,  which 
has  made  itself  felt  in  every  succeeding  conflict, — from  the  war 
of  1 812,  with  its  leading  spirit,  Andrew  Jackson,  a  native 
North  Carolinian,  down  to  the  war  between  the  States,  with 
General  Forrest  and  Admiral  Farragut,  both  of  North  Caro- 
lina parentage,  fighting  on  opposite  sides  with  unsurpassed 
effect;  while  later  still,  in  the  war  with  Spain,  were  many 
creditable  participants  who  came  of  the  same  stock. 

Some  time  during  the  early  part  of  1807,  Major  Farragut 
removed  with  his  family  from  Tennessee  to  the  Gulf  Coast, 
having  received  a  commission  as  Sailing-Master  in  the  United 
States  navy  on  the  2d  of  March  in  that  year.  At  the  time  of 
his  appointment  he  was  still  a  resident  of  Tennessee;  for  even 
later,  in  a  deed  executed  by  him  (April  30,  1807),  he  refers  to 
himself  as  of  "Knox  County,  in  the  State  of  Tennessee."  In 
that  day  of  slow  mail  service,  the  news  of  his  appointment 
probably  had  not  reached  him,  or  he  may  have  tarried  in  his 
old  home  for  a  short  while  in  order  to  dispose  of  his  property 
before  reporting  for  duty.  After  his  arrival  in  the  far  South, 
Farragut  purchased  a  plantation  in  what  is  now  Jackson  coun- 
ty, Mississippi.  It  was  situated  at  a  slight  promontory  called 
Point  Plaquet,  and  sometimes  known  as  Farragut' s  Point. 
This  place  is  on  the  west  side  of  Pascagoula  River,  and  near  it 
was  a  small  harbor,  together  with  tremendous  stretches  of 
marsh  lands  which  were  interspersed  with  bayous  and  ponds. 
The  place  was  in  a  section  of  country  which,  in  parlance  of 
the  old  English  borders,  might  be  styled,  "debatable  land," 
for  it  was  claimed  bj'  the  Spaniards  as  a  part  of  West  Florida, 
and  by  the  United  States  as  included  within  the  Louisiana 
Territory,  recently  purchased  from  France.  After  the  Ameri- 
can settlers  had  captured  the  Spanish  fortress  at  Baton  Rouge, 
the  Government  at  Washington  seized  the  whole  stretch  of 
country  in  dispute. 


Major  George  Farragut  97 

Though  still  retaining  possession  of  his  plantation,  Farra- 
gut  removed  his  family  to  New  Orleans  in  1808.  He  seems  to 
have  alternated  in  his  place  of  residence  between  his  planta- 
tion and  the  naval  station  at  New  Orleans;  for,  in  181 1, 
while  still  serving  as  sailing-master,  he  was  called  upon  to  act 
as  magistrate  for  the  county  of  Pascagoula.  The  government 
agent  who  made  the  appointment  wrote  to  the  authorities  at 
Washington  that  he  had  prevailed  upon  Sailing-Master  Farra- 
gut  to  accept  the  post  of  magistrate  upon  a  special  request 
from  the  people  of  Pascagoula,  by  whom  he  was  greatly  belov- 
ed. As  the  Gulf  Coast  was  settled  so  largely  by  Spaniards 
and  French,  it  was  to  Farragut,  no  doubt,  a  most  congenial 
locality,  recalling  the  surroundings  of  his  youth  in  far  away 
Minorca. 

At  the  naval  station  in  New  Orleans,  Sailing-Master  Far- 
ragut was  for  sometime  in  command  of  a  gun-boat.  His  wife 
died  in  New  Orleans  on  the  22d  of  June,  1808,  being  the  vic- 
tim of  a  yellow  fever  epidemic.  Before  Mrs.  Farragut' s  death 
an  incident  occurred  which  had  the  greatest  influence  in  shap- 
ing the  career  of  her  distinguished  son,  David  Glasgow  Farra- 
gut, then  a  child.  It  seems  that  Sailing-Master  David  Porter, 
father  of  Commodore  David  Porter  and  grandfather  of  Ad- 
miral David  Dixon  Porter,  was  then  stationed  at  New  Orleans; 
and,  becoming  ill,  received  much  kindness  from  the  family  of 
his  friend  and  associate,  Sailing-Master  Farragut,  at  whose 
house  he  died.  Shortly  after  that.  Commander  Porter,  after- 
wards Commodore,  was  ordered  to  New  Orleans;  and,  learning 
of  what  had  been  done  for  his  late  father  in  the  household  of 
Mr.  Farragut,  offered  to  adopt  one  of  that  gentleman's  two 
smallest  sons — William,  the  eldest  of  three,  already  being  a 
midshipman  in  the  navy.  The  3'ounger  of  the  two  boys,  on 
hearing  of  Porter's  offer,  promptly  asked  that  he  might  be  the 
one  to  accompany  that  officer.  Thus  began  the  wonderful  na- 
val career  of  David  Glasgow  Farragut,  who  received  his  "bap- 
tism of  fire"  under  Captain  Porter  in  the  war  of  181 2,  when  a 
midshipman  only  thirteen  years  old  on  board  the  Essex,  and 
who  died  with  a  higher  rank  than  had  ever  before  existed  in 
the  navy  of  the  United  States. 

Of  George  Farragut,  little  more  remains  to  be  said.  He 
retired   from  the  navy,  March  25,  1S14,    on  account  of  age, 


98  The  GUI.F  States  Historicai,  Magazine 

then  being  in  his  fifty-ninth  year,  and  prematurely  old,  no 
doubt,  in  consequence  of  his  continued  life  of  almost  constant 
exposure.  He  is  recorded  simply  as  "Dismissed"  in  at  least 
one  Naval  Register  (Hamersly's);  and  this  should  not  be  al- 
lowed to  pass  without  a  word  of  explanation,  as  dismissal  in 
our  day  implies  that  an  officer  has  been  guilty  of  some  miscon- 
duct which  renders  him  unworthy  of  remaining  in  the  ser\dce. 
Desiring  information  on  a  statement  apparently  so  out  of  keep- 
ing with  the  previous  honorable  record  of  Mr.  Farragut,  the 
writer  of  this  sketch  addressed  an  inquiry  to  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment at  Washington,  asking  for  the  facts  of  the  case.  To 
this  came  the  reply  that^ailing- Master  Farragut  left  the  ser- 
vice for  the  reason  that  owing  to  his  old  age  he  could  not  per- 
form his  duties  as  the  requirements  of  active  service  demand- 
ed, and  in  those  days  there  was  no  retired  list;  there  was  noth- 
ing in  connection  with  his  dismissal  other  than  this. ' ' 

After  the  retirement  of  Sailing-Master  Farragut  from  the 
nav)^  he  once  more  repaired  to  his  plantation  in  Mississippi, 
and  there  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  The  part,  if  any, 
which  he  bore  in  the  operations  to  defend  New  Orleans  against 
the  British,  in  the  war  of  1812,  does  not  appear.  He  was  no 
longer  regularly  enlisted  in  the  service  when  Jackson  won  his 
great  victory  on  the  8tli  of  January,  181 5. 

It  was  on  his  plantation  at  Point  Plaquet,  June  4,  1817, 
that  George  Farragut  died,  three  years  after  his  retirement 
from  the  nav)',  in  the  sixty-second  j^ear  of  his  age,  and  after  a 
residence  of  more  than  forty  years  in  the  republic  for  whose 
independence  he  had  bravely  contended  when  a  young  captain 
of  North  Carolina  Light  Horse  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution. 


